I kinda answered it in another comment too. I don't disagree that having a solid team is critical or a good product, but my point is that you can have a medioc

I kinda answered it in another comment too. I don't disagree that having a solid team is critical or a good product, but my point is that you can have a mediocre technical team that just keeps executing that will outperform rock stars who can get stuff done but can't execute completely. So it always boils down to execution. A great product idea is nothing without being executed on, every day, every hour so that it is moving forward. I agree there are lots of factors that can be hard in a startup, but the single biggest issue is execution. Even in raising money, you can have an amazing team and solid product idea, but if you execute poorly on the fundraise you will not get money or not get enough to make the idea come to reality. I also 100% agree with you, all startups involve some lucky breaks, however, I have lots of friends who have had one or more lucky breaks and they failed to execute on them. So even luck isn't great unless you execute on it. I'd argue a great team that is executing will see that the idea/product/concept is failing and start looking for a pivot to get it back on track because they are executing. Executing means you are setting goals, hitting goals, measuring progress, evaluating status and adjusting, if you aren't doing all of those then you aren't executing very well. And that happens at a macro and micro level at all stages, that is execution IMO. I'll also agree that I don't know everything and plenty of people have valid concepts that have succeeded that may disagree with me. Totally fair, but IMO execution is the #1 reason startups fail and is the key to making them succeed in some form.